Ailments that affect the respiratory system can occur in people of any age group. These ailments can range anywhere from a temporary condition that requires minor treatment to a permanent disability that requires constant respiratory treatment.
Treatment of respiratory ailments may involve the use of various components configured in a respiratory circuit. For example, endotracheal intubation tubes are used primarily for the provision of an artificial airway in a patient's respiratory system for the passage of gasses and objects to and from the patient. Endotracheal tubes are typically rigid or semi-rigid cylindrical tubing that may extend from outside of the patient into the patient's lungs. Surgical instruments are then passed through this tubing into the patient's respiratory system in order to perform various medical procedures.
It may be the case that a patient's respiratory system is so severely impaired that a patient requires some or total assistance in breathing. Ventilators are commonly used to provide artificial respiration to patients in such circumstances. Ventilators are typically connected to a manifold of the breathing circuit to provide for artificial respiration of the patient. Ventilators may be configured so as to completely control the breathing of a patient, or configured such that the ventilator responds only when a patient has labored breathing to a predetermined extent.
Since a respiratory circuit has components located both on the inside and outside of a patient, the support and stability of a respiratory circuit is important in maintaining an optimal level of performance of the respiratory circuit and related components. It is sometimes the case that the tubing of a ventilator or even the tubing of a respiratory circuit is not rigid and needs to be supported. Also, it is often the case that a patient must be moved during the normal course of treatment, necessitating a change in position of the respiratory circuit. Additionally, even rigid or semi-rigid tubing in a respiratory circuit may need to be supported in order to provide for proper positioning of the tubing in relation to a patient or to provide for optimum patient comfort. In these circumstances, a support arm is sometimes used in order to support components of the respiratory circuit.
Typically, support arms have been located on a ventilator unit and extended therefrom in order to support tubing of the respiratory circuit. These support arms are typically provided with several joints that allow the support arm to enjoy a full range of motion. The tubing of the respiratory circuit is attached to one end of the support arm. This attachment may be a sliding support or a static connection. A caregiver may then manipulate the support arm such that the tubing is properly positioned. Support arms are typically provided with adjustment screws located at the various points of movement. A caregiver may manually tighten these adjustment screws in order to lock the support arm in the desired location. It is therefore the case that support arms typically require the caregiver to manually tighten and loosen from between two and four adjustment screws in order to properly manipulate and lock the support arm in the desired position. This adjustment requires the use of two hands by a caregiver.
The present invention is an improvement upon support arms that are used in supporting a respiratory circuit.